I've never met a soul who doesn't like edamame, have you? They are truly at their best eaten freshly picked straight out of the garden - just rub with a little salt, pop into a pan of boiling water for 3-4 minutes and serve with a glass of chilled Japanese lager and...well, you be the judge.
I'll be honest, I buy most of my edamame frozen but I do love the "straight from the soil" ones best - to me they feel softer and taste sweeter - so I grow my own in small quantities too. Growing edamame in the northern hemisphere can be a little difficult - edamame love warm, sunny conditions - and if they don't get what they want, the stroppy little plants won't raise they're little heads above the soil for love nor money.
I planted some seeds earlier this year in April and consider myself lucky to have achieved a 1 in 3 success rate - but I probably planted too early. You can plant edamame seeds straight outside but I always think planting indoors gives your little babies a nice warm start to life - better than risking a spring meeting with the dreaded Mr. Frost out of doors. I get my seeds from a company called Chiltern Seeds but most reputable seed companies stock them. I advise against buying seeds from the internet - unless they come from a company you know, you can't guarantee the seeds in the packet are really the seeds you ordered. Once you have your little packet of seeds, plant one seed each 4cm down in 10-12cm pots in a good potting compost. A little water now and again to keep the earth moist and then just leave in a sunny warm spot for 2 - 3 weeks to germinate.
I leave mine another 2-3 weeks to grow a little stronger before I pot them on. Don't leave this to late though otherwise there will be more risk of damaging the roots when you transfer the plantlet.
4-5 weeks later and you should have a 60-75cm plant with a good few edamame beans ready to be harvested.
If you're interested in growing edamame, you can find my simple video tutorial down below along with the written instructions or just click Grow your own Edamame.
Once you have your edamame beans, you might wish to try a few recipes. I have a few on the site including my Edamame salad.
Grow your own Edamame.
what you'll need:
edamame seeds from a reputable supplier
some small pots (10 - 15cm diameter)
some bigger pots to pot on
some compost
how to:
fill some the small pots with good quality potting compost
plant 1 edamame seed per pot about 2cm into the compost, cover with another 2cm of compost and sprinkle with a little water
leave in a warm sunny spot indoors for 2-3 weeks and keep moist but not wet
6 weeks later, your seedlings will be ready to pot on or move to a vegetable patch. if you pot on, the pot should be at least 30cm deep and free draining (I use a mix of fresh compost and garden soil as a medium)
invert the pot & transfer your seedings, bedding them down to force out any pockets of air. top with some fresh compost
leave in a warm, sunny spot outdoors. (edamame need 4-6 hours of full sun daily to grow well)
provide regular water and keep the soil moist but don’t overwater
your edamame will be ready to harvest in 5-6 weeks.
once you've got your edamame to hand, there are lots of ways you can eat them. you could just rub them in salt while their still in their pods, boil for 5-6 mins and then enjoy them with a cold japanese beer. if you're feeling a little more adventurous, you could mix them up with a salad as i did in the pic above. i mixed them up with my homegrown wasabi rocket, some baby tomatoes and chopped seafood sticks and then seasoned them with a little oil and salt - simple, nutricious and really quite tasty! you can find the recipe for my edamame and wasabi rocket salad just below and the youtube tutorial is at the bottom of the page.
happy cooking! kurumi XXXX.
ingredients:
(makes 2 servings as a side dish)
160g edamame
5-6 wasabi rocket leaves
5 baby tomatoes
5 seafood sticks
1/4 salt or to your taste
1/2 tbsp sunflower oil
how to:
rinse & chop the wasabi rocket leaves
rinse & halve the tomatoes
cut each seafood sticks into 4 cubes
bring some water to the boil in a pan, then cook the edamame for 4-5 mins for fresh, 6 mins for frozen, drain
mix the edamame, tomatoes, seafood, wasabi rocket leaves in a bowl, season with the salt & add the oil, mix one more time
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